The present invention relates to digital data processing devices, and in particular to devices for scanning documents to create digital images.
The latter half of the twentieth century has been witness to a phenomenon known as the information revolution. While the information revolution is a historical development broader in scope than any one event or machine, no single device has come to represent the information revolution more than the digital electronic computer. The development of computer systems has surely been a revolution. Each year, computer systems grow faster, store more data, and provide more applications to their users.
Early computer systems were very expensive and difficult to use, capable of being programmed and manipulated by only a handful of highly-educated specialists. The cost of operating such computers was correspondingly high, and they were therefore used for only the most essential tasks. The dynamic which has driven the information revolution is the sustained reduction in the cost of computing. Thus, information which was too expensive to gather, store and process a few years ago, is now economically feasible to manipulate via computer. The reduced cost of information processing drives increasing productivity in a snowballing effect, because product designs, manufacturing processes, resource scheduling, administrative chores, and many other factors, are made more efficient.
The declining prices and expanding capabilities of modern computers cause them to be applied to an ever increasing variety of applications. For some years now, inexpensive xe2x80x9cpersonal computersxe2x80x9d have been available for personal use at home or for the use of a single individual at a place of business. Although small, these machines provide capability that could have only been imagined not long ago.
Computing power and digital storage being as inexpensive as they are, it has become increasingly popular to create digital records of matter previously embodied in other formats. Digital records enable visual images, audio recordings, and the like, to be stored in digital computers, replicated with digital copying devices, edited using highly flexible and sophisticated editing tools, and transmitted over digital networks, such as the Internet.
Digital images may be created in various ways, but one of the most straightforward is to scan a document, photograph, or similar visual image to create a digital copy of the visual image. For this purpose, many digital equipment manufacturers offer a peripheral device for a computer, known as a xe2x80x9cflatbed scannerxe2x80x9d. Typically, a flatbed scanner is a box-like device of short stature, having a width and length a little larger than a piece of paper of some standard size. The upper horizontal surface of the scanner contains a glass scanning surface, over which rests a removable cover. The cover is lifted, and a document is placed face down on the scanning surface. An internal carriage containing digital optical sensors moves inside the scanner from one end of the scanning surface to the other, scanning the document and creating a digital image as it moves. The flatbed scanner is typically coupled to a computer via a data communications cable, and as it scans the image, the data is transmitted to the computer. The computer may compress the data using any of various compression techniques, and stores the scanned image in its internal storage, typically a rotating magnetic disk drive storage device.
Because personal computers and their associated peripheral devices are often used in homes and small offices where space is at a premium, it is desirable to reduce the amount of space used by such devices, and in particular, the amount of desktop space used. For example, many personal computers are designed with a floor-mounted xe2x80x9ctowerxe2x80x9d system unit, containing the processor, main memory, and storage devices, while input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, and video display unit, are remotely attached via cable. This flexibility allows the user to put the system unit on the floor or at another less valuable location, while only the display unit goes on the desktop, leaving the desktop as free as possible. In a similar vein, a number of xe2x80x9cmulti-functionxe2x80x9d devices, which combine the functions of printer, copier, fax machine, answering machine, telephone, and/or scanner, have been marketed, one of the chief advantages of such devices being that they conserve space.
Unfortunately, flatbed scanners remain major space consumers. Since the flatbed scanner must be at least as long and wide as the document to be scanned, there are limits to the size reduction possible. While there are alternatives to flatbed scanners (such as hand-held scanners or paper-feed scanners, in which a document being scanned is moved past a stationary scanning mechanism), flat-bed scanners provide certain advantages in accuracy and flexibility that are not possible with alternative devices. An unrecognized need exists for a flatbed-type scanning device which, while not necessarily smaller than conventional flatbed scanners, consumes less valuable space, and in particular, consumes less of the desktop.
A flatbed-type digital scanning device has a vertically oriented scanning surface. Because the internal mechanism is such that the size of the device in a dimension normal to the scanning surface is significantly less than the length or width of the scanning surface, the device is taller (vertically) than it is wide (in the dimension normal to the scanning surface), and consumes a smaller area of space even though its volume may be the same as conventional flatbed scanners.
In the preferred embodiment, an outer cover is attached to the scanner by a hinge near the bottom of the scanning surface. The inner surface of the outer cover is a light-colored material having a relatively high coefficient of friction, to prevent slippage of documents. To scan a document, the outer cover is pulled down to an approximately horizontal position, and the document is placed face-up on the outer cover. An intermediate transparent cover is also attached via a hinge along the same axis, the intermediate transparent cover being positioned for rotation between the outer cover and the scanning surface. The intermediate cover is left in a vertical orientation while the document is being aligned on the outer cover, and then lowered into position next to the outer cover, so that the scanned document is held in place between the two covers. The two covers are then rotated together to position the document next to the scanning surface for scanning. A latch mechanism holds the covers in place during rotation.
Preferably, the outer cover has feet near the end opposite the hinge to stabilize the device while the cover is in the lowered position.
In the preferred embodiment, the scanner has feet for placing the scanning surface in a horizontal orientation or a vertical orientation, according to the user""s choice. The scanner also has appropriate receiving cavities for wall mounting.
The digital scanning device herein described reduces consumption of critical desktop area. An additional advantage of the device is that it is easier to align multiple small documents, such as photographs, because these are placed in a face-up position on the horizontally positioned cover.